Company co-founded by M.D. Anderson prez dealt new blow

In another setback, the biotech firm co-founded by University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center President Dr. Ronald DePinho has been informed its financial partner won’t fund future studies of the company’s struggling kidney cancer drug.

Aveo Pharmaceuticals, DePinho’s former company, also disclosed in a regulatory filing made public on Thursday that Astellas Pharma will not seek European marketing approval for the drug, tivozanib, for renal cell cancer. Renal cell cancer is the most common type of kidney cancer and the most lethal of all genitourinary cancers.

The news follows by three weeks a 13-1 vote by an advisory panel of the Food and Drug Administration that Aveo didn’t demonstrate the drug’s benefits outweigh its risks and that an additional trial would need to be conducted. After that vote, Aveo and Astellas said they would work with the FDA to address the concerns.

Aveo stock, which peaked at $20.68 a year in 2011, continued its fall Thursday, closing at $2.70 a share. It has lost more than 50 percent of its value since the end of April.

It was not clear whether Astellas will continue supporting Aveo’s research into tivozanib’s possible therapeutic value for breast cancer and metastatic colorectal cancer.

Aveo, which is planning to present additional data about tivozanib at a major oncology conference the first week in June, is the subject of at least 10 lawsuits on behalf of shareholders. The Chronicle wrote about questions raised about how much DePinho may have known about the drug when he touted it during a 2012 appearance on CNBC in this May 14 article.

One Response

Dr. Depinho was recruited to MDA based in large part on his promise to link academia and industry which would help establish a biotech/pharma base in Texas. About now the UT Regents should feel duped by his sales pitch and should regret their decision.